I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of this story or if it was just regional? An older lady who was a genealogist at the Decatur County library in Bainbridge, Georgia said this was a common practice down here and that her grandparents also had a mason jar at their graves.

Truthfully I find this mason jar story a bit hard to swallow. She is claiming these people were so poor that when they died they did not have the money for a tombstone. So a mason jar with a note was placed at the head of the grave with the hopes of getting enough money for a tombstone.

I've read these newspapers down here on micro film and they had their share of crime down here. I ask her what had kept thieves from taking the money and she said people kept an eye on their mason jar on a regular basis and that people had much more respect for the dead.

Has anyone ever heard of such a story?